History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history, Part 35

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918

USA > Iowa > Cass County > History of Cass County, Iowa; together with sketches of its towns, villages, and townships; educational, civil, military, and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of old settlers and representative citizens. History of Iowa, embracing accounts of the pre-historic races, and a brief review of its civil, political, and military history > Part 35

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In the winter of 1862 Mr. Hardenbergh crossed the Nishnabotna on the ice, going to James Byrd's house. On going back to the river to re-cross in the same manner, the ice was gone. It had broken up a few minutes after he crossed, and his escape was a narrow one.

POLITICAL SPEECHES.

Ira B. Clark was the first political speak- er who came to the county. He was run- ning for Congress on the Whig ticket, and spoke to the people of Indiantown in 1854.

Judge McCarty, of Winterset, father of Leander, was a very illiterate man, but in 1856 he received the nomination on the Democratic ticket for State Sena- tor, He came to Indiantown in that year for the purpose of making a political speech, and expounding to the villagers the doctrines of government as laid down by his side. In the course of his remarks, in speaking of Kansas, he said they were "all treasoners out thar." His speech provoked an Englishman in the crowd, who answered McCarty's remarks.

In 1856 Samuel R. Curtis was running for Congress, and came to Indiantown to present his side of the case to the inhabi- tants of the settlement. For the impres- sion it would make on the minds of the people, he brought with him a Kansas refugee, the Rev. Mr. Moore. In the course of his speech, in telling the story of the attack on Lawrence, he spoke about Capt. Pate riding into the town at the head of his men. He said Pate pointed his guns at the Free-State Hotel, "fired away, and missed it clah!" He is said to have been much more illiterate than those whom he was attempting to enlighten.

District Judge Samuel HI. Riddle was a jolly character. While holding court at Lewis in 1858, it is related of him that he passed a good deal of his time evenings playing poker with the boys. The next day, if information was filed against any of his associate poker-players, he would

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assess a fine against them. One of those with whom he played and afterwards fined, was Ross Temple. He paid his

fine, and remarked to some of the boys, who were near: "It's all right, boys; I'll win it all back from the Judge to-night."

CHAPTER V.

PIONEER LIFE.

In this chapter it is the design to pre- sent some of the interesting and peculiar phases of frontier life. It is not the pur- pose to here portray conditions and cir- cumstances that apply to every case, but to pick out from the mass of material some of the most extreme cases, and be- longing properly to the extreme frontier. While as a means of variety here and there are stated occurrences and conditions which have existed np to within a very recent day. It is impossible to single out Cass county as an isolated case in the de- scription of pioneer life, for it finds its parallel in almost every connty in the State and throughout the entire west. And it is, on the other hand, just as impossible to limit the portrayed so as to just pre- cisely fit and cover given cases and terri- tory. Pioneer life must be taken as a whole, and as it existed a third of a cen- tury ago in the west. Some of the illus- trations may not apply to the exact man- ner in which this or that particular settler got along, nor is it the intention that it should, but it is attempted to show what

has been done in the early development of the Great West.

But a little more than a third of a cen- tury ago Cass county was not in existence, the territory comprising it was as wild and desolate as the Indians who inhabited it; and there was not a white settler within its boundaries. When the Mormons, and others of the determined pioneers of Cass county settled here, they found an unbro- ken, uncultivated and uninhabited prairie. Wild beasts, and but little less wild sav- ages roamed at will over the prairie, through the groves and forests and along the waters of the Botna river, their do- main knowing no bounds. The miniature forests skirting the prairies were to be felled, cabins erected, homes prepared, mills built, and the river and creeks made to labor for the benefit of mankind. The beautiful prairies were to be robbed of their natural ornaments, and the hand of art was to assist in their decoration. Who was to undertake this work ? What will be the effect of their labors upon future generations ?

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

Cass county pioneers had many difficul- ties to contend with, not the least of which was the journey from civilization to their prairie homes. The route lay for the most part through a rough country ; swamps and marshes were crossed with great exertion and fatigue; rivers were forded with difficulty and danger; nights were passed on open prairies, with the sod for a couch and the heavens for a shelter; long, weary days and weeks of travel were endured, but finally the " promised land" was reached.

EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.

The young men and women of to-day have little conception of the mode of life among the early settlers of the country. One can hardly conceive how great a change has taken place in so short a time.

In a new country, far removed from the conveniences of civilization, where all are compelled to build their own house, make their own clothing and procure for them- selves the means of subsistence, it is to be expected that their dwellings and gar- ments will be rude. These were matters controlled by surrounding circumstances and the means at their disposal.

Some few of the earliest settlers con- structed what were called "three-faced camps," or in other words, three walls, leaving one side open ; but this was in reality only resorted to by some of the transient squatters who only remained long enough to find a purchaser for their claim to the land, and then move on far- ther west to repeat the process. These "three-faced camps are described as fol- lows: The walls are built seven feet high, when poles are laid across at a distance of about three feet, and on these a roof

of clapboards was laid, which were kept in place by weight poles placed on them. The clapboards were about four feet in length, and from five to eight inches in width, split out of white oak Jimber. No floor was laid in the "camp." The struc- ture required neither door, window or chimney. The one side left out of the cabin, answered all these purposes. In front of the open side was built a large log heap, which served for warmth in cold weather and for cooking purposes in all seasons. Of course there was an abund- ance of light, and on either side of the fire, space to enter in.

They were probably more easily con. structed than the ordinary cabin, but in this region very few are remembered, as having been built. A more common place of abode was what might be called a "four faced camp." This was construct- ed in a good deal the same manner except that it had four sides.

The cabin was a material advance for comfort, in home life. This was built of logs, the spaces between the logs being filled in with split sticks of wood called "chinks," and daubed over both inside and out, with mortar made of clay. The floor, sometimes, was nothing more than earth tramped hard and smooth, but it was commonly made of "puncheons," or split logs with the split side turned up- ward. The roof was made by gradually drawing the top to the ridge pole, on cross pieces, laying the "clapboards," which be- ing several feet in length, instead of be- ing nailed were held in place or kept from rolling off by "knees" placed against the one below, which served as a prop. For a fire-place, a space was cut out of the

Thor Meredith

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

logs on one side of the room, usually about six feet in length, and three sides were built up of logs making an offset in the wall. This was lined with stone, if con- venient; if not, then earth. The fluc, or upper part of the chimney, was built of small split sticks, two and a half or three feet in length, carried a little space above the roof, and plastered over with clay; when finished it was called a "cat and clay" chimney. To describe it more min- utely, the sticks are laid just as bricks are, with mortar; the clay is mixed with cut straw or grass to prevent it from crumb- ling, and then the outside and inside were plastered with the clay and rubbed > mooth with the hands. The door was made by cutting a space in one side of the room of the required size, the door itself being made of clapboards secured by wooden pins to two crosspieces. The hinges were also sometimes of wood, while the fasten- ings consisted of a wooden latch catching on a hook of the same material. To open the door from the outside, a strip of buck- skin or leather was tied to the latch and drawn through a-hole a few inches above the latch-bar, so that on pulling the string the latch was lifted from the catch or hook, and the door was opened without further trouble. To lock the door, it was only necessary to pull the string through the hole to the inside. Here the family lived, and here the guest and wayfarer were made welcome. The living room was of good size, but to a large extent it was all-kitchen, bed-room, parlor and arsenal, with flitches of bacon and some- times rings of dried pumpkin suspended from the rafters.

Sometimes in the more extreme cases a

pioneer's cabin was erected of poles that one man could lay together without "notching," after reaching about the height of a man, it would be covered with the bark taken from some Indian's aban- doned "Wick e.np," the cracks filled with- prairie grass, and skin hung upon the in- side and outside to keep the wind from blowing out the grass. The skins thus used were wolf, bear, deer, elk, and fre- quently buffalo. The fire was built on the ground and a hole left in the roof for smoke to escape. No floor was had until the season came to "peel Linn bark." A door would be made, almost always in these extreme cases, of an elk skin. In cases of this kind the beds were made of prairie hay, spread on the ground floor. Sometimes, a forked stake would be driven into the ground at an equal distance from two walls which were at right angles, and poles laid through the fork to the walls. On this would be laid "shakes" and brush until quite a fair bedstead would be the result. For bed clothes, when quilts were wanting, skins and robes would make up the deficiency, and in cases like those just mentioned, skins were almost wholly used. In a great many instances all of the house- hold furniture was home-made, blocks being used for chairs, and rude benches which were made from "shakes" with the "easy side up," .holes bored in the bottom and rude legs inserted. A place for cooking utensils was made by boring holes in the wall, placing a smooth shake upon pegs which had been driven in, and a shelf was complete. In these extreme cases the pioneers usually, had a few knives and forks and plates, but there were many who had neither. One of the

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

pioneer Methodist preachers in this part of the State, told the writer that he had many times, notwithstanding he was given the best, sat upon a rude block, which he doubted not conformed to the rule of "easy side up," and in eating cut his ven- ison upon a piece of bark laid upon his knees, using his own jack-knife. It is difficult to describe some of the tables used, they were of all shapes and sizes, sometimes a "shelf" would be made upon which the victuals were served. Some- times a box or two in which the clothing was stored, pegs would be driven into the log walls and clothing hung upon them. Books were very seldom found in these extreme cases, except probably a fraction of a book here and there, which was well thumbed. In one corner was placed the trusty rifle, and just above it were hung the powder horn, shot flask and hunting pouch. Often a loft was made to the cabin for a sleeping place and the storage of "traps" and articles not in common use. This was reached by a ladder secured to the wall. Sometimes the bed rooms were separated by sheets and blankets suspend- ed from the rafters, but until the means of making these partitions were ample, they all lived and slept in the same room. If a stranger was present, partaking of the hospitality, the light would be blown out when the old folks wished to retire; the children would undress while the "stranger was looking the other way." Frequently the pigs and chickens inhab- ited the same room.

Familiarity with this mode of living did away with much of the discomfort, but as soon as improvement could be made, there was occasionally added to the cabin

an additional room, or a "double log cab- in," being substantially a "three faced camp," but generally the old cabin was replaced by a better one.

The furniture in the cabin corresponded with the house itself. The articles used in the kitchen were as few and simple as can be imagined. A "dutch oven," or skillet, a long-handled frying pan, an iron pot or kettle, and sometimes a coffee pot, constituted the utensils of the best fur- nished kitchen. A little later, when stone formed the base of the chimney, a long iron "crane" swung in the chimney place, which on its "pot-hook" carried the boil- ing kettle or heavy iron pot. The cook- ing was all done on the fire-place and at the fire, and the style of cooking was as simple as the utensils. Indian, or corn meal, was the common flour, which was made into "pone" or "corn-dodger," or "hoe-cake," as the occasion or variety de -* manded. The "pone" and the "dodger" was baked in the Dutch oven, which was first set on a bed of glowing coals. When the oven was filled with the dough, the lid, already heated on the fire, was placed on the oven and covered with red hot coals. When the bread was done it was taken from the oven and placed near the fire to keep warm while some other food was being prepared in the same "oven" for the forthcoming meal. The "hoe-cake" was prepared in the same way as the dodger-that is, a stiff dough was made of the meal and water, and, taking as much as could conveniently be held in both hands, it was moulded into the desired shape by being tossed from hand to hand, then laid on a board or flat stone placed at an angle before the fire and patted down

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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY.

to the required thickness on the "johnny- cake board." In the fall and early win- ter, cooked pumpkin was sometimes added to the meal dough, giving a flavor and richness to the bread not attained by the modern methods. In the oven from which the bread was taken, the venison or ham was then fried, and, in winter, lye hominy, made from the unbroken grains of corn, added to the frugal meal. The woods abounded in honey, and of this in pioneer times, the early settlers had an abundance the year round. For some years after the very first.settlement, corn meal formed the staple commodity for bread; but as soon as the settlers began trading at Council Bluffs, flour could be obtained more easily than corn meal, for the reason that it was easier to grind.

These simple cabins were inhabited by a kind and true-hearted people. They were strangers to mock-modesty, and the traveler seeking lodgings for the night, or desirous of spending a few days in the community, if willing to accept the rude offerings, was always welcome, although how they were disposed of at night the reader may not easily imagine; for, as described, often a single room would be made to serve the purpose of a kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room and parlor, and many families consisted of six or eight persons.

CHARACTER OF THE PIONEERS.

The character of the pioneers of Cass county falls properly within the range of the historian. They lived in a region of exuberance and fertility, where Nature had scattered her blessings with a liberal hand. The fair supply of timber, the fertile prai-

rie, and the many improvements constant- ly going forward, with the bright prospect for a glorious future in everything that renders life pleasant, combined to deeply impress their character, to give them a spirit of enterprise, an independence of feeling, and a joyousness of hope. They were a thorough admixture of many na- tions, characters, languages, conditions and opinions. There was scarcely a State in the Union that was .not represented among the early settlers. All the various religious sects had their advocates .. All now form one society. Says an early wri- ter; "Men must cleave to their kind, and must be dependent upon each other. Pride and jealousy give way to the natural yearn- ings of the human heart for society. They begin to rub off the neutral prejudices; one takes a step and then the other; they meet half way and embrace; and the society.thus newly organized and consti- tuted is more liberal, enlarged, unpreju diced, and, of course, more affectionate than a society of people of like birth and character, who bring all their early pre- judices as a common stock, to be transmit- ted as an inheritance to posterity."

They were bound together by a feeling that all were equal and were laboring and striving for a common end. They had all left more or less comfortable homes in the eastern States, and cast their lot in a country where there was nothing save the intrinsic merit of the location. Here they were all on equal footing; riches could give no advantage, even had they existed, and the absence of the aristocratic element that is now so painfully apparent in society, must alone have been a great source of comfort to the pioneers. They

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all felt an equal interest in the improve- ment and development of the country, and to the softening and smoothing over of the rough edged disadvantages against which they had to contend. Everyone was thought of and treated as a brother. Their public gatherings were like the re- union of a parted family, and the fact that there was no rivalry, made the occasions doubly joyous. Their hospitality knew no bounds. If a traveler pulled a latch string, it was considered that, as a matter of course, he should receive an equal share with the rest of the housebold, be it much or little.

CLOTHING.

In this respect the settlers differed con- siderably, but were dressed as a rule as plain and simple, as their houses were built. Necessity compelled it to be in conformity to the strictest economy. The clothes which the early settlers . brought with them were worn smooth, and darned until it was impossible to tell from what material the garment was originally made sometimes, and in fact in the cases of squatters, almost always, the men were dressed as much in skins as anything else. In summer, nearly all persons, both male and female, went barefooted. Boys and most men, never thought of wearing any- thing on their feet, except during months of the coldest weather, when buckskin moccasins were worn. These useful ar ticles were made by taking a tanned piece of skin, cutting it after a pattern to the right size, then it would be stitched and puckered with deer sinew. The latter came from the neck of the deer, and was small enough to run through a darning needle, yet strong enough to "hang a man."

The moccasins were very common until the settlement was quite well advanced.

Clothing was but one of the many things in which the pioneers stinted themselves. Every move they made was hindered by some disadvantage, which constantly re- minded them of labor to be performed and time which must pass to evolve comfort and convenience from the former condi- tion of affairs. It is well for "young America" to look back on those early days. It involved a life of toil and hard- ship, but it was the life that made men of character. Cass county to-day has no better men than the immediate descend- ents of those who labored thus, and the actors themselves have not yet all passed away. One who had passed through pio- neer life in the eastern portion of the State, wrote that "the boys were required to do their share of the hard labor of the cleaning up the farm, for much of the country now under the plow was at one time heavily timbered, or was covered with a dense thicket of bazel and young timber. Our visits were made with ox teams, and we walked, or rode on horse- back or in wagons, to meeting. The boys pulled, broke and hackled flax, wore tow shirts and indulged aristocratic feel- ings in fringed hunting shirts and coon- skin caps, picked and carded wool by hand, and spooled and quilled yarn for the weaving till the back ached."

Industry such as this, supported by an economy and frugality from which there was then no escape necessarily brought its own reward. Change and alterations were to be expected, but the reality has distanced the wildest conjecture; and

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stranger still, multitudes are still living who witnessed notonly the face of nature undergoing a change about them, but the manners, customs and industries of a whole people almost wholly changed. Many an old pioncer sits by his fireside in his easy chair with closed eyes, and dreams of the long ago, in sympathy with the poet describing eastern pioneer life, and secing here and there strains that are parallel to his own experience.

"The voice of Nature's very self drops low, As though she whispered of the long ago, When down the wandering strcam the rude canoe

Of some lone trapper glided into view, And I itered down the watery path that led Thro' forest depth, that only knew the tread Of savage beasts and wild barbarians, That skulked about with blood upon their hands,

And murder in their hearts. The light of day Might barely pierce the gloominess that lay Like some dark rall across the water's face, And folded all the land in its emorace, The panther's screaming, and the bear's low growl,

The snake's sharp rattle, and the wolf's wild howl,

The owl's grim chuckle, as it rose and fell In alternation with the Indian's yell, Made fitting prelude for the gory plays That were enacted in the early days. Now, o'er the vision, like a miracle, falls The old log cabin with its dingy walls, And crippled chimney, with the crutch-like prop

Beneath, a sagging shoulder at the top, The coon skin battened fast on either side, The wisps of leaf tobacco, cut and dried; The yellow strands of quartered apples bung In rich festoons that tangle in among The morning glory vines that clamber o'er The little clapboard roof above the door; Again, thro' mists of memory arise

The simple scenes of home before the eyes;

The happy mother humming with her wheel; The dear old melodies that used to steal So drowsily upon the summer air,

The house dog hid his bone, forgot his care And nestled at her feet, to dream, perchance, Some cooling dream of summer-time romance. The square of sunshine through the open door That notched its edge across the puncheon floor,

And made the golden coverlet whereon The god of slumber bad, a picture drawn Of babytood, in all the loveliness

Of dimpled cheek and limb and linsey dress. The bongh filled fire-place and the mantle wide, Ils fire-scorched aukles str. tebed on either side, Where, perchance upon its shoulders 'neath the joist,

The old clock hiccoughed, harsh and hnsky voiced;

Tomatoes, red and yellow, in a row,

Preserved not them for diet, but for show;

The jars of jelly, with their dainty tops; Bunches of pennyroyal and cordial drops,

The flask of camphor and vial of squills, The box of buttons, garden seeds and pills. And thus the pioneer and helpsome aged wife Reflectively views the scenes of early life."

In early days more mischief was done by wolves than by any other wild animal, and no small part of their mischief con- sisted in their almost constant barking at night which always seemed menacing and frightful to the settlers. Like mosquitos the noise they made appeared to be about as dreadful as the depredations they committed. The most effectual, as well as the most exciting, method of ridding the country of these hateful pests, was that known as the circular wolf hunt, by which all the men and boys would turn out on an appointed day, in a kind of cir- cle comprising many square miles of ter- ritory, with horses and dogs, and then close up toward the center field of opera-

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tion, gathering, not only wolves, but also deer and many smaller "varmint." Five, ten or more wolves, by this means, would be killed in a single day. The men would be organized with as much system as a small army, every one being posted in the meaning of every signal and the application of every rule. Guns were scarcely ever allowed to be brought on such occasions, as their use would be un- avoidably dangerous. The dogs were de- pended upon for the final slaughter. The dogs, by the way, had all to be held in check by a cord in the hands of their keepers until the final signal was given to let them loose, when away they would go to the center of battle, and a more excit- ing scene would follow than can be easily described.

This plan was frequently adopted in most of the neighboring counties; but a single instance of such a hunt has been found in Cass county by the historian.

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Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co. Number of Pages: 918

Author: Continental Historical Company, Springfield, Ill
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill. : Continental Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 918